Part 24

Delay, they say, begetteth peril; but it is rather this itch of doing that undoes men.

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Every man has a sane spot somewhere.

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That is never a bad wind that blows where we want to go.

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It is a great thing if you can persuade people that they are somehow or other partakers in a mystery. It makes them feel bigger.

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But it is an evil age for the gypsily inclined among men. He who can sit squarest on a three-legged stool, he it is who has the wealth and glory.

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For truth that is suppressed by friends is the readiest weapon of the enemy.

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But O, what a cruel thing is a farce to those engaged in it!

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It is not always the most faithful believer who makes the cunningest apostle.

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Vanity dies hard; in some obstinate cases it outlives the man.

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A man may live in dreams, and yet be unprepared for their realisation.

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‘Be soople, Davie, in things immaterial.’

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No class of man is altogether bad; but each has its own faults and virtues.

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But it is odd enough, the very women who profess most contempt for mankind as a sex seem to find even its ugliest particulars rather lively and high-minded in their own sons.

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To cling to what is left of any damaged quality is virtue in the man.

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